Conger's five RBIs help Angels win

May 11, 2014|Reuters

Conger's five RBIs help Angels win

TORONTO -- Jered Weaver said it was a first for him.

But when Los Angeles Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher visited him at the mound during the seventh inning on Sunday, the right-hander suggested that he should be replaced by a fresh arm from the bullpen.

"It took a lot for me to do that," the Los Angeles Angels right-hander said. "But at certain times you have to swallow your pride, and those guys came in and did a great job."

It worked out well for the Angels, who went on to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-3, with catcher Hank Conger driving in a career-high five runs on three hits, including a three-run homer.

Right-hander Michael Kohn replaced Weaver with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh and retired the only two batters he faced to end the inning without a run scoring.

"In that situation, with a pretty good fastball hitter [center fielder Colby Rasmus] up, I didn't have any command of the fastball there," Weaver said. "Definitely in the seventh and I was a little erratic there in the sixth. [Butcher] came out to me and asked me how I felt and I was honest with him. I told him I was getting a little fatigued there and probably didn't have the fastball command that I wanted to. I told him I think the right thing to do is to bring in the fresh arm and be able to locate that heater a little better than I could."

"I'm good with it," manager Mike Scioscia said. "They talked it out and if he's tired it's important for him to let us know."

Weaver (4-2) held the Blue Jays (18-20) to four hits and one run over 6 1/3 innings as the Angels (19-17) have won the first three games of the four-game series.

Conger hit an RBI double against right-hander Drew Hutchison (1-3) in the fourth, hit his third homer of the season against reliever Marcus Stroman in a four-run sixth and added an RBI single against left-hander Brett Cecil in a two-run ninth.

Hutchison allowed three hits, four walks and three runs in 4 1/3 innings in his eighth start of the season.

"He wants the ball," Conger said. "He wants to keep going. It was a very good assessment on his part. He was fatiguing a little bit. I was a little shocked. ... I think he was kind of frustrated on the 3-1 fastball that kind of bounced on him [on the walk to Francisco]."

Blue Jays first baseman Edwin Encarnacion doubled home two runs against right-handed reliever Fernando Salas with one out in the eighth after shortstop Jose Reyes led off with a walk and left fielder Melky Cabrera singled.

Left-hander Hector Santiago, in his first relief outing since being removed from the starting rotation, retired the next two batters.

The Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead in the first as the result of aggressive base running by Reyes, who led off with a single, stole second and scored from second on right fielder Jose Bautista's groundout to second. Bautista failed to reach base safely for the first time in 38 games this season.

The Angels took a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Second baseman Howie Kendrick walked with two out, stole second and continued to third on Navarro's throwing error. Angels right fielder Efren Navarro doubled to left to tie the game and scored on Conger's double to right-center.

Designated hitter Mike Trout greeted rookie right-hander Stroman with an RBI double in the fifth to give the Angels a 3-1 lead. It scored center fielder Collin Cowgill, who led off with a walk against Hutchison and took third on a single to right by shortstop Erick Aybar.

Stroman allowed four runs in the sixth on five hits, including the three-run homer by Conger and a triple by third baseman Ian Stewart, who scored on Cowgill's single to make the score 7-1.

"For me it's just kind of a matter of slowing everything down," Conger said. "When I try to get too big, then everything kind of gets out of whack. Obviously it was a good day. The pitching has been doing a great job for us for the whole series."